Natives For Your Neighborhood
Conservation of rare plants, animals, and ecosystems

General Landscape Uses: Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations. It can also be used as a groundcover in water gardens and along pond and lake edges.

Ecological Restoration Notes: A relatively common element of a wide variety of freshwater wetlands.

Availability: Commonly available at native plant nurseries in central Florida.

Description: Small creeping wildflower. Leaves aromatic when crushed.

Dimensions: Typically 3-6 inches in height or less. Spreading and forming large patches.

Growth Rate: Moderate.

Range: Southeastern United States west to Texas and south to Miami-Dade County and the Monroe County mainland.

 Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.

 Map of suggested ZIP codes from South Florida north to Jacksonville, Gainesville, and Cedar Key.

 Map of ZIP codes with habitat recommendations from the Monroe County Keys north to Martin and Charlotte counties.

Habitats: Freshwater marshes, swamps and pond margins.

Soils: Wet to moist, seasonally inundated organic, sandy or calcareous soils, with or without humusy top layer.

Nutritional Requirements: Moderate to low; it prefers soils with organic content, but will still grow reasonably well in nutrient poor soils.

Salt Water Tolerance: Low; does not tolerate flooding by salt or brackish water.

Salt Wind Tolerance: Low; salt wind may burn the leaves.

Drought Tolerance: Low; requires moist to wet soils and is intolerant of long periods of drought.

Light Requirements: Full sun.

Flower Color: Blue.

Flower Characteristics: Showy. Fragrant.

Flowering Season: All year.

Fruit: Inconspicuous capsule.

Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from cuttings and division.

References: Miami-Dade County Landscape Manual (2005).

Comments: The leaves are lemon-scented. See also the Florida Wildflower Foundation's Flower Friday page.